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Romaine today, something else tomorrow. That's how this thread could work. I'll do my best to find nutrient content, please send me a PM here on TFO if there is a specific thing you want to see sooner rather than later.

Sp from this we can see that romaine has 1.18 grams of protein per 100 grams of leaf. As it is near 90% water that means that the protein per dry gram is about 20%. But all that water is there, so it's not too much protein as the water to 'process' it in the gut is present.

Pumpkin today, seems like a controversial food item from Facebook post that sound like it causes instant death, to the idea it will cure your tortoise of worms. Neither of these claims would be true by-the-way.

One of the wolf cries about pumpkin is high sugar content, measured as total carbs and as sugars. Both are about twice romaine. At a rate of 5% pumpkin one feeding a week it is most likely your tortoise will NOT have a pre-diabetic blood glucose count. I have not done an actual blood glucose on tortoises fed pumpkin, I an extrapolating based on other high ration food items.

One of the articles in the "tortoise Library" pretty well dismisses the idea that pumpkin is an effective wormer.

On the plus side, pumpkin is indeed nutritious. The plant makes those things on purpose so animals will come eat them and poop out seeds all over the place. The pumpkin has collaborated with animals for a long time towards this end. Pumpkins are not that derived from selective culture. If anything they are more water and less nutrient packed than the wild base fruit that the pumpkin is.

Citronella is a common name for the lemon grasses and I have fed this to tortoises. If they eat it, sparingly, it does not seem to be harmfull. It's not a 'soft' grass and has coarse hairs. Not favorite, but great fiber.

I bought this and fed it out just because I'm like that. Got it from H-mart in San Diego. I tried a little bit and don't recall anything remarkable about the flavor. I placed it in the diet at such a low % I also don't recall that any tortoises cared about it one way or the other.

I felt the nudge of neglect on this thread and my wonderful tortoise wife gave that extra little push.

Butter lettuce, green leaf lettuce, and red leaf lettuce.

All these have a push at about 3:2 C : P so not stellar but certainly not bad. As pointed out they are all not so good for fiber. And fiber is a really big deal, it allows the intestines to pack the food into little bolus like globs so the tortoises can move that bolus from the small intestines into the big intestines and then back into the small intestines.

Fiber is not some microscopic thing, it's large bits of stuff that is somewhat indigestible, like "Wow, that whole blade of grass came through." size things. For giant tortoises that is bigger things as fiber than a 25 gram neonate. So actual grasses fed with these lettuces make good use of both items.

Grasses are not the only 'more' fiber to include, opuntia, and tree/shrub leaves work too.

I felt the nudge of neglect on this thread and my wonderful tortoise wife gave that extra little push.

Butter lettuce, green leaf lettuce, and red leaf lettuce.

All these have a push at about 3:2 C : P so not stellar but certainly not bad. As pointed out they are all not so good for fiber. And fiber is a really big deal, it allows the intestines to pack the food into little bolus like globs so the tortoises can move that bolus from the small intestines into the big intestines and then back into the small intestines.

Fiber is not some microscopic thing, it's large bits of stuff that is somewhat indigestible, like "Wow, that whole blade of grass came through." size things. For giant tortoises that is bigger things as fiber than a 25 gram neonate. So actual grasses fed with these lettuces make good use of both items.

Grasses are not the only 'more' fiber to include, opuntia, and tree/shrub leaves work too.

You know @Will, I have never really understood exactly why the calcium to phosphorus level is so important. I know that itis important! But I can’t explain it. Could you describe it in a way that someone like me—not a biologist—can understand? Using as few words as possible!?

You know @Will, I have never really understood exactly why the calcium to phosphorus level is so important. I know that itis important! But I can’t explain it. Could you describe it in a way that someone like me—not a biologist—can understand? Using as few words as possible!?

In short, for each atom or molecule of phosphorus the body needs a like unit of calcium. Metabolic processes will grab that calcium from anywhere it can, including skeletal (shell) calcium. It's much easier to add calcium to the diet to create this balance, than sort out foods low in phosphorus, which is also an essential nutrient. The recommendation for reptiles in general and tortoises in general is 2:1 C: P, some 'authorities' go as high as 30:1.

In short, for each atom or molecule of phosphorus the body needs a like unit of calcium. Metabolic processes will grab that calcium from anywhere it can, including skeletal (shell) calcium. It's much easier to add calcium to the diet to create this balance, than sort out foods low in phosphorus, which is also an essential nutrient. The recommendation for reptiles in general and tortoises in general is 2:1 C: P, some 'authorities' go as high as 30:1.

https://www.feedipedia.org/node/275 take note that as you scroll down through the nutrient data files (all one page) you go from dehydrated, to other treatments (fresh, hay, etc.)

Alfalfa is one of the few pellets and hays that can be found readily that is USDA certified organic. I am finder more respect for this. The benefits transcend what we feed out animals, it also reduces what is sprayed overall, and that effects the wild guys out there too.

I actually like this resource. It is for Guinea pig husbandry, but the chart they make takes all food items and focuses on Protein, Ca, Phos, Magn, and then the Ca ratios. Really good info for us as Ca, Phos and Magnesium are the key elements for proper Calcium absorption, along with D3

Zucchini as a stand alone item is well mixed in with other things based on how grocery stores and seed packet sellers have come to use the word. I have seen "yellow Zucchinni" to describe sorta straight crook neck squash, and now I see "mexican gray squash" for what looks like zucchini to me. These values are for what gets hits for zucchini in the databases listed.

USDA https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/3180?manu=&fgcd=&ds= they call is summer squash which can mean a few things. One, that it readily grows and is available in summer months, but also it is one of the thin skinned squashes where ingesting the skin is common. Winter squashes tend to have thicker skin, often not consumed, and have a later growing season, so with both the thicker skin and later growing season can be stored better and are often consumed throughout the winter.

Good news is they tend to have more C : than : P or a positive C: P ratio

Needless to say yet again, squash is good and can even be fed out frequently as the season change which one you add to the diet, AT A LOW RATE of inclusion. I use about 5% as that rate which will also mean not squash for vegetable inclusion a few times each week. Sometimes I will use carrots at about 1-2 %, or okra, or sweet potato at the 5% amount, or less of each for a total of 5%. These things are represented in wild diets in one form or another.

It is true that store dandelions and 'found in the backyard' are different, but 'technically' the same species. What's in your backyard has adapted to your specific environment (meaning climate, lawn watering patterns, and even to some extent your mowing frequency). Those that are cultivated have adapted to that care regime. I have not found any tortoises to seek them out in preference to other greens, but Testudo types are extremely attracted to the flowers.

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